Brewers Add Joakim Soria From White Sox To Bolster Bullpen

Image credit: Joakim Soria (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Getty Images)

The White Sox began their teardown two winters ago with the trades of Chris Sale to the Red Sox and Adam Eaton to the Nationals. They continued last year by moving Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to the Yankees, Jose Quintana to the Cubs, Melky Cabrera to the Royals and Anthony Swarzak to the Brewers.

Milwaukee came calling again on Thursday, this time for righthander Joakim Soria. The 34-year-old former closer will help ease the issues in the Brewers’ staff caused by Zach Davies‘ setback and the torn ulnar collateral ligament suffered by Brent Suter in recent days. Soria will mesh nicely in the back of the bullpen with lefthander Josh Hader and righties Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel.

BREWERS ACQUIRE:

Joakim Soria, RHP
Age: 34
The White Sox did an excellent job of acquiring Soria last year, when he was seen as having minimal value, and then capitalizing on a late-career resurgence. In 2017, the Royals were willing to contribute $1 million of his 2018 salary to help ease his path out of town in a three-team trade that saw the White Sox include only Jake Peter while receiving Soria and Luis Avilan (the Dodgers and Royals also swapped players in the deal). Soria has been solid as the White Sox’s closer as he mixes four pitches, led by a low-90s fastball. The Brewers have decided to improve a strength with the move, as Soria will step into a lower-leverage role in the Brewers’ deep and talented bullpen that includes Hader and Jeffress.

WHITE SOX ACQUIRE:

Kodi Medeiros, LHP
Age: 22
Taken out of a Hawaii high school in the first round of the 2014 draft, Medeiros has always been intriguing as a loose-armed lefthander with a fastball that can get into the mid-90s, as well as a sweepy slider in the low 80s and a mid-80s changeup. His slinging, high-maintenance delivery, however, has not allowed him to command his arsenal. Scouts this year who have seen Medeiros say that he has to ease up in order to get the ball in the zone. Those control and command issues have equated to a walk rate of 4.5 per nine innings during his career. Without improvement, he’s likely to wind up in the bullpen.

Wilber Perez, RHP
Age: 20
At 20 years old, Perez is clearly old for the Dominican Summer League. He’s a tall, skinny righthander who has room for projection. He already throws in the low 90s and has topped out at 93 mph this season. He couples the pitch with a changeup and curveball. The changeup is ahead of the curve at this point, though he shows feel for the latter offering.